Port aux Choix National Historic Site, Port aux Choix, Newfoundland

Port au Choix, on the west side of Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula, has been populated for thousands of years. The rich waters off this coast have supported many different groups of people, including those who live here today. The remains of four ancient cultures have been found at Port au Choix to date: Maritime Archaic Indian, Dorset and Groswater Paleoeskimo, and Recent Indians. Archaeologists searched many years for a site such as this one, which sheds new light on our understanding of native peoples in this part of the world.

For over 5500 years, this small peninsula on Newfoundland’s Great Northern Peninsula has been the crossroads of various native North American and European cultures. The area’s rich marine resources, and to a lesser extent the forests, wild game and abundant berries, have drawn these people to the shores of Port au Choix. The people who occupied this site connect the area southwards to Maine, northwards to Greenland, as far west as the Canadian Arctic, and of course eastward to Europe.

The remains of these many cultures have been preserved at Port au Choix, thanks to the limestone bedrock of the area. The soils are alkaline rather than acidic and many artifacts have survived, including those of bone and ivory